Chapter 3

“ ... ohhhh, fuck!” Joy groaned as we rolled her gently onto her back. Her eyes took a moment to focus, and she seemed to not totally know where she was. “Man, I hurt all over...” and I put my hand on to her chest as she tried to sit up.

“Easy, now...”, I said as she started to struggle, “You hit your head and God only knows what else. You lie still while help arrives.” With a sigh and a slight smile on her lips, she settled back toward the ground.

“Shit, all I remember is starting the descent, and then hearing this grinding noise. I remember looking down, ‘cause the sound came from the bottom bracket...” and she licked her lips and I mimed drinking from a water bottle to Melody, who found one of Joy’s bottles still on the frame of her bike. “Then it was pretty much Superman time after that. I remember falling really slowly, you know, like in slow motion?” I nodded to show I understood, having done it myself, I knew what she meant. When you fall on a bike, in a crash or just out of simple inattention, it is always in slow motion. “And then it was pretty much lights out.” I held Joy’s head up a little and then popped open the bottle and gave her a drink. I ended up with her head and shoulders in my lap. Without thinking of it, I gently wiped her hair out of her eyes. Which sparkled in thanks at the simple, and for me, unconscious gesture. “How’s my bike?”

“You want truth or happy talk?” I asked with a crooked smile. She must be doing okay if she could remember to be worried about her bike. Joy frowned and then looked me in the eye. “Okay, truth it is ... it’s totally fucked!”

“Oh shit, and it’s hardly a month old!” joy groaned.

“Well, ya’ know, when you go totally yard sale like you did, I was really worried...” and I smiled to take some of the sting out of it. In cycling speak, ‘going yard sale’ is when you have one of the ‘Wide World of Sports’ style crashes that scatters your stuff all over the road, so it looks like you’re having a yard sale. Joy had gone beyond that and actually broken her frame in half. The bike was totaled and she now knew it. Now, she was taking a personal inventory of her body and the current aches and pains ... and looking at what might have happened today, she was pretty damn lucky.

“Well, at least it’s made by a frame maker that will replace the broken frame ... a fat lot of good that will do for your bruised backside, but...” and I shrugged again. Just then we all heard the siren of the aid unit and Melody stood to wave them down.

Joy reached up with her right hand and ran her fingers gently down my face. “You’re okay after all, aren’t you?” When I looked a little puzzled, she added, “Thanks for the rescue ... now I owe you. And I always pay my debts.” Her smile promised a whole world of possibilities that I had not even thought of ... hmmmm...

Once the paramedics arrived, they strapped her to a backboard and gently moved her up the slight incline and into the back of the aid unit. The whole time, Joy held fiercely onto my hand as if her whole life depended on it. I didn’t see any reason to let go, so I held on until they loaded her in. Then I gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, told her I would see her in the hospital, and then watched as the aid unit drove out of sight. The siren was off, so that was a good sign. Melody stood closely next to me as it drove out of sight, her arm on my shoulder, mine around her waist.

The whole team had assembled by that time, and they all stood sort of close to each other, as if proximity would make it somehow better, lost in their own thoughts about risk and reward. I’m sure they were doing the same thing I did every time there was an accident involving a bike ... First, you thanked God it wasn’t you, and then you put yourself into the situation knowing full well that it very well could have been ... The ride back to the park was pretty subdued and the whole contest was, for now at least, forgotten.

Once we got everything sorted out at the park, Melody telling me she would get a ride home with Monica, I climbed into my Jeep and headed to the Hospital. When I got there, it took the usual run around to find out what room she was in. Apparently she had left word that I was to be allowed in to see her, and I think the nurse thought I was her boyfriend or some such ... Though her once over was a bit maternal, she smiled one of those knowing smiles that actually made me blush. I didn’t say anything to change her mind, but I wondered just what Joy might have implied.

I got to her room just as the pack of interns were making their rounds. One intern, who was so young looking that I thought I heard his voice crack, was just going over her injuries and recommended a course of treatment with the attending. I waited respectfully outside while they wrapped up. After they had all trooped off to in search of blood and gore, or at least better cases to work up, then I walked into her room.

Joy was propped up in bed, and she looked better, though incredibly tired. From experience, I knew that a near-death experience on a bike took a lot out of a person. I mean, I had been in a few accidents, so I knew what it felt like from first-hand experience. Imagine riding quietly along, minding your own business, and then the next moment you’re tossed into a rock polisher! The end result was always the loss of some skin! She perked up considerably when I walked in.

“Nate! You came!” she said with another of her light up the city smiles.

“I told you I would, didn’t I?” and I gave her one of my patented off center grins. “How you doing?”

“Well, let’s see...” and she started ticking things off on her fingers. “I have a minor concussion, and a nasty bump on the back of my head. My bike is totally fucked up, and they won’t let me out of here before tomorrow afternoon at the earliest!” I smiled at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me. “On the plus side, my knight in not so shining blue jeans came to my rescue, and I was definitely in distress.” Here, her smile got a little watery looking, so I moved closer and held her hand again. “Thanks you! I know I don’t have to keep saying it, but if you hadn’t found me, shit, I would’ve had been up the creek without a paddle in sight!”